As you know from the previously shared authors, I like a little snark. Action and a brief romance are great, but I need a character I can connect with, which means sarcasm, snark, banter, deadpan humour, etc. I want to smile and laugh while reading a story I am fully engaged in.
Angela Roquet, author of the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. Series provides loads of snark while her protagonist, Lana Harvey meets the minimum requirements as her position as a reaper. Why not? She’d rather hang out with her friends—though really she only has one outside of work, the archangel Gabriel.
Lana is a reaper, created by the Grim Reaper, along with other generations of reapers, to disperse souls to the collective afterlife. Leaving the Grim Reaper more time for management and paperwork. It sounds good on paper, but really the reapers are indentured servants with limited rights. Lana does not see any reason for her to work hard and take extra courses at the Reaper Academy, they have no souls and therefore no afterlife to work towards. All she has to look forward to is more work. I know God will not give me anything
Despite Lana actively working towards mediocrity, she receives a promotion to reap a special soul. A soul capable of solving the overflowing Sea of Eternity issue. Lana, her co-captain and friend Jose, the overachieving Coreen, and their new reaper Kevin collect Mickey’s soul when usually one reaper is more than enough for the job. The stakes increase as dog-faced demons, the same demons Lana has seen with Caim, are also after Mickey’s soul.
A friendly study of the world’s religions is a sacred duty.
Mahatma Gandhi
Seeing the collective afterlives of multiple religions and the organized chaos of all the souls reaching their afterlives is an interesting idea. A council of deities attempts to work together to ensure souls reach their appropriate destination while dealing with the overflowing Sea of Eternity and the non-believers contained within it. The idea is unique from anything I read before. A little religious philosophy, a tongue-in-cheek bureaucracy in the afterlife, and a reaper they force to deal with it all.
Angela Roquet fills the novel with creative world-building for Limbo and the Sea of Eternity. It does not slow down the pace and provides insight into what might happen to deities who no longer have followers. There are a lot of characters in the cast, but in a book series, that is to be expected. The pace is fast, so it was an easy read. Something to enjoy on a day like today where the power is out in much of Houston and the lack of insulation froze our water lines. Why not enjoy the warmth of the afterlife?
Happy Reading
